Indians hold off Yankees

By Associated Press | August 3, 2005

Scott Elarton contained New York's power-packed lineup for six innings and led the Cleveland Indians to a 6-5 win last night over the visiting Yankees, who couldn't stage their third straight comeback.

Elarton (7-5) allowed three runs and four hits as the Indians won the opener of their three-game series against the Yankees, one of a handful of teams they're battling for the wild card.

Bob Wickman, Cleveland's fourth reliever, retired Derek Jeter on a grounder with a runner at second for his 28th save in 32 attempts.

Ronnie Belliard hit a three-run double off an erratic Al Leiter (1-3), and Victor Martinez homered for Cleveland, which is 4 1/2 games behind wild-card leader Oakland. The Indians are 34-1 when they score at least six runs.

Alex Rodriguez hit his 29th homer, a two-run shot in the sixth, and Tino Martinez had a solo drive in the third for New York.

The Yankees were coming off two straight victories in which they rallied from four runs down in the eighth inning, becoming the first team to do so since the 1975 Cincinnati Reds. They couldn't pull off another one, however, and fell 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Red Sox in the East.

Blue Jays 7, White Sox 3 -- Russ Adams hit two home runs, including going back-to-back with Orlando Hudson in the second inning, and Toronto roughed up Jon Garland in Chicago.

Eric Hinske had three hits for Toronto as starter Josh Towers won for the third time in his last 14 starts.

Paul Konerko hit a two-run homer for the White Sox, who had a four-game winning streak snapped. Despite holding the best record in baseball at 69-36, Chicago has lost eight of its last 11 at home.

Garland (15-5) had his worst outing of the season. He gave up seven runs and 13 hits in six innings.

In the eighth, Reed singled leading off. The next batter, Dave Hansen, bunted the ball in front of the plate, which third baseman Brandon Inge fielded and threw to first. Seeing third base unoccupied, Reed never slowed, running from first to third.

After a walk to Wiki Gonzalez, Reed scored on a double by Yuniesky Betancourt. Gonzalez and Betancourt scored on Ibanez's single with the bases loaded.